Skyfall Basin

Investigating Brigg's Tor

19

MAR/10

With the interrogation complete, it was decided to use a ritual divination on the gems the rats had been paid to verify the veracity of their claims. The ritual showed just what Barchan said: a strange pale elf with pitch black orbs for eyes handing over the gems along with a portrait of the party as they were during the raid on Mag Tureah. Further delving showed another vision: a small grey skinned creature with matching eyes, a quickling, being handed a large sack of gems and a sheaf of portraits by the same fomorian lord whose negotiations the party had interrupted when the retrieved the sword.

With that information, it was decided to set out for Brigg’s Tor immediately to confront their stalker and perhaps learn more about the fomori’s involvement in recent events. Risking further attack, the band passed through Ravan on their journey and spent the night researching in the temple libraries of Io and the Raven Queen in search of further clues. Much was learned about the history of Brigg’s Tor when it was known as Calenim, the eladin palace-fortress, and the cataclysm that reduced it to ruin. Kat’s research in the vaults of the Raven Queen revealed some scant information on the mysterious artifact she pursues, a device designed for use on immortal beings from the astral realms, and not always willingly. Nothing, however, to indicate where it might be found. Fortunately no assassins found them in the night, and early the next morning they set off again after refreshing their provisions (including rum and vodka for the wet bar Tim was working on installing in the wagon).

As the days wore on, the weather grew unseasonably cold for late summer. Indeed, on the morning they reached the tor, frost edged the grass around their wagon and the morning fog did not burn away as the sun rose. Some worried that this might indicate that the fey of the Winter Court might still have a presence in the ruin, though that raised the disturbing possibility of Winter fey working with the Fomori, unthinkable treason for any of the Court fey. Unfortunately arriving at Brigg’s Tor seemed to bear out this suspicion..

A chill voice drifted from the ruins as the group stepped within the crumbled walls. “What’s this? It seems we’ve one less assassin to pay,” the voice asked, echoing around the ruins, “but what hat do you seek to find here, mortals?” When Nala stepped forward to present their reasons and demand answers, the response from on high was a hissed, “No, you will find no answers here. Only death!” With that a set of huge wings shadowed the party as a fey white wyrm appeared on the crumbling balcony above them, then dove down in a sweep of claws to attack Kat before dissapearing behind a low wall.

Charging forward, Kat and Vorlakk found no sign of the dragon.. until it appeared out of thin air on the opposite balcony and swooped again. Kat was ready though, and managed to pin the beast with the Frost of Letherna (ironically enough). Trapped on the ground and unable to return to the air, the dragon fought fiercely as Kat, Vorlakk, Tim and Framboise surrounded it in melee, while the rest of the party rained fire, radiance, lightning and bolts down on it from afar. It was Lahfawnduh who finally bloodied the beast, leaping from the shadows to slice open it’s flank, then dodge out of the way when it roared and unleashed it’s deadly frost breath on her. Unfortunately Tim, who Lahfawnduh appeared next to, was not so lucky and took the blast full in the face. Furious, the dragon let out a tremendous roar, causing those assaulting it to fall back in instinctive terror and simultaneously breaking the Raven Queen’s icy grip on it. Rather than move to engage from a better angle, it instead lept into the air and flew towards the balcony on which Hadarai had taken up position, smashing through several support columns and then dissapearing in to thin air. Standing so close, Hadarai was able to sense the presence of an unstable portal in the spot the dragon dissapeared and, with the floor already starting to crumble beneath him, lept through after it. The rest of the party save Lahfawnduh and Jetton quickly followed, with Vorlakk leaping up a collapsing column to dive through the same portal while Kat ran to another Tim sensed nearby on the ground floor, and Framboise taking a daring risk by using his Avenger powers to teleport across the planar border after his fleeing prey. He survived the journey, but the enraged dragon tore him in two the moment he appeared in the feywild, just before Vorlakk delivered a final hammer blow between it’s eyes and slew it.

Outside, Jeton was nearly crushed beneath the collapsing rubble, pummeled by falling stone that cracked through the flagstones near the central fountain and revealed a hidden stairway leading downwards. Moving to join their friends, Jeton and Lahfawnduh found that the portals they had ducked through had shifted, but Jeton’s knowledge of arcana allowed them to find a new portal to slip through. Reunited, the party had only a few moments to mourn their fallen companion and take in the cold beauty of the restored ice palace on the feywild side. Clattering hoofbeats came echoing down the columned hall leading to the heart of the citadel, and Lahfawnduh identified a group of beastmen, goat-headed caprans, approaching with drawn bows, with what sounded like more on upper two floors. Exhausted, they chose to retreat back to the mortal world rather than fight, where they were joined by their trusty nature guide Halgar, and hid in the newly revealed stairway, pulling the broken flagstones back in to place above them.